Tomb Raiders Codex

Chapter 311 Grandpa's Return
The gravekeeper went on to say: "Then at that moment, I remembered the content of the dream. There was a person who gave me something... The appearance of that person was very clear, just like a real person, but I I’ve never left here.” My heart moved, as if I had grasped something, an idea suddenly popped up in my heart, and I immediately asked, “Are you the only tomb guard in this underground palace?” He nodded.

I immediately knew where the problem was. A person didn't jump out of a rock. If he really lived here all the time, what about his parents?

When I asked my parents, the grave guard said angrily that he didn't remember.Suddenly, the thought in my mind became clearer, and my voice almost trembled, and I asked, "Do you still remember what that person gave you?"

The gravekeeper narrowed his eyes and said, "Mask."

"What kind of mask? Is it the same as the one on your face?"

The gravekeeper said: "It's not the same. That mask is like jade, and it has been staring at me in the dream."

I said: "So you didn't kill me, you wanted to recall more things?" But according to the tomb guards, only two survived, so does the third person exist?If it exists, is it the person in front of you?

Immediately afterwards, I remembered what Zha Taoist said in his suicide note. Among the three people, one will receive the blessing of the Earth Ghost King, one will become a servant of the Earth Ghost King, and the other will leave safely.Could this person in front of me be the second person?Countless thoughts swirled in my mind, and I also thought that he said he didn't know Grandpa, but he responded to my name, and he also had some weird dreams.

Is he... is he...

A person who was about to emerge jumped into my mind. This feeling was not to mention how complicated it was. Finally, I said: "Can you take off the mask, maybe I know what's going on." The gravekeeper stared at me , slowly moved his hand to his face, and then lifted off the turquoise mask.

Behind the mask, a skinny, sallow, unshaven man appeared, like a mummy, his face was almost deformed, but I still recognized it, it was Grandpa!
It's Chen Siyuan, my grandfather who disappeared for 14 years!

He is still alive?

I quickly calculated a time account in my mind. 14 years ago, my grandfather was in his 60s, and now he should be in his 80s, close to 90 years old.Could it be that he has been living in this underground palace for the past 14 years?What does he eat and drink?What do you live on?How did he get such great physical strength?

I thought of the Earth Ghost King, could it be because of the Earth Ghost King?
I was not excited in my heart. When the great joy and confusion rushed over at the same time, I suppressed all my emotions, and I didn't even have any excitement.I looked at the person in front of me without blinking, his beard covered most of his face, his cloudy eyes looked at me quietly, and said, "You know me?"

"know."

"Who are you?" he asked the question again.

I took a deep breath, swallowed, and said in the calmest voice: "I am your grandson, Chen Xuan."

The gravekeeper's eyes widened: "Grandson? Where did I get my grandson?"

I know that he has lost his memory. To be more precise, he was brainwashed by some kind of force and positioned himself as a grave keeper.Where does this strength come from?Earth ghost king?Or the seven lamps again?From this point of view, the group of people like Grandpa, who had been in close contact with the underground palace of the Earth Ghost King, should have also been in close contact with the seven lamps. I don't know if Lu Su and the remaining young man succeeded.

I looked at his surprised expression and nodded, but he obviously didn't believe it, shook his head, and said in a grumpy voice, "I've been living here all this time, how could I have a grandson."

"But you have a reflection of my name, don't you? You have never left here, why do you have these strange dreams? If you have lived here all your life, what about your parents? Where are your parents?" After this series of questions forced him to pass, his skinny sallow face showed hesitation, and he finally asked, "Are you really my grandson? Then who am I?"

"You are Chen Siyuan, a tomb robber. You came to the Tomb of the Ghost King 14 years ago and disappeared. Today, 14 years ago, I came here to find clues about you, but I didn't expect that you are still alive..."

He fell silent for a moment, then suddenly pressed on the floor tiles of the tomb passage, but there was no movement, and the surrounding floor tiles suddenly turned, revealing a gap, and behind the gap, a stone human head appeared.The man has big eyes and square ears, with a long tongue sticking out, looking at us with a weird smile.

His thin fingers were very nimble, and I didn't know which part of the head he was pressing. Suddenly, I heard a creaking sound from behind the tomb wall, which seemed to be the sound of the stone gate slowly starting.

Immediately afterwards, I heard my grandfather say: "I can't trust you completely, but I can let your friend go first. Before that, you can't meet each other." With a look of longing, he said, "What else?"

and also?

I was stunned at first, then I came to my senses, and then I told him all the information I knew from the beginning to the end. We sat cross-legged in the dead silent tomb passage, motionless, the only thing that moved was our mouth , When it came to dry mouth, he took out the water and couldn't help but drank all the water left for Tofu and others.

Two hours passed after this narration. Grandpa has been listening quietly. After I finished speaking, I asked cautiously, "Grandpa, do you think of anything?"

He looked at me, shook his head, and said, "Nothing, what you said seems to have nothing to do with me."

I was silent for a moment and said, "So, you still don't believe in your identity?"

He nodded, although his voice was not that irritable, but his attitude was restrained a bit. I had no choice but to use my trump card and said, "I have a way to prove your identity." He didn't speak, just looked at me with his eyes .So I said: "My grandfather has slippery bone disease, the bones of the whole body can shrink at the same time, and get into a hole twice as small as his own body."

As soon as these words came out, the person opposite finally showed a look of shock, I knew, I was right.I slowly approached his thin body. He couldn't accept it at the moment, and he sat there completely. I saw that he had no intention of attacking. After getting closer, I couldn't help but use my arms to hug the skinny person into it. in the arms.

In the past, I was alone, without care, as if floating in the air, but now, I feel a force that pulls me from the air to the ground, and I feel down to earth.

He didn't use his great strength to push me away, my throat was a little congested, and I couldn't speak for a while, before I could utter a few words: "Grandpa, I miss you."

"I'm going to take you out of here."

In the dim light, in the underground palace that has not seen the sun for thousands of years, there is an accumulated obscurity floating. In a moment, I felt his dry hand pat me on the back, and said in a slightly irritable voice: "I can't leave here."

I let him go and said, "Why? Why did you become like this?"

Grandpa shook his head, looked at me with complicated eyes, and said, "Come with me, and I will take you to a place." I could see that his eyes were full of struggle, doubt and fear of the unknown. , perhaps broke his 14-year "peaceful" life, making it difficult for him to accept for a while.

I didn't ask much, and followed him and let him lead me through the underground palace. On the way, I asked him some questions to sort out the general situation of grandpa.

In Grandpa's words, he has been in this place as long as he can remember. His purpose is to guard the most important part of the underground palace, which is the coffin chamber of the Earth Ghost King. The coffin chamber is the only place he has never been to.In addition, this underground palace actually has a very hidden secret passage that connects the underground river with the outside world. His usual food is mainly obtained through the underground river. As for clothes, he collected some dead people's clothes.

I couldn't help thinking to myself, could it be that the clothes of those naked corpses were also taken away by grandpa?But I didn't ask this question, so these are not important to me at all.My eyes were fixed on the skinny person in front of me.Even though he was close to 90 years old, his body showed no signs of rickets, but was very thin, with skin clinging to the bones, just like the starving children in Africa I had seen on TV before.

Although I know that grandpa is more skilled than me, subconsciously, I still have a feeling of unreality. I am afraid that this is just a dream of mine, or another ghost covering my eyes, and I am afraid that something will happen suddenly, and grandpa will be killed. Life.Before, he had no worries and acted boldly, but now he is extremely vigilant.

As he was walking, Grandpa suddenly turned his head, his unshaven face twitched, he squeezed out a weird smile, and said, "There's nothing here that can harm me, don't worry." It must have been a long time since he smiled, so he thought that It's a reassuring smile, but it's actually quite weird.I nodded, relaxing my tense nerves.

During the 14 years here, there were two places that my grandfather dared not go to. It was the fear and awe deeply rooted in his mind that made him dare not set foot.One of them is the coffin chamber, and the other is a closed ear chamber connected to the coffin chamber.I don't know why grandpa became like this, but I can imagine that some powerful force must have affected him, and this force is telling him in an invisible way that these two places cannot go.

At this moment, Grandpa, suppressing the fear in his heart, led me to the coffin chamber of the Earth Ghost King.

He said: "If what you said is true, then I have to find out, I have a very good son, right?"

I said: "Excellent, maybe you are looking for the corpse lamp to save his life."

Grandpa didn't speak any more and continued walking, but I could see that his remaining thin muscles were tense.

(End of this chapter)